


Excursions in Sightseeing

by padmerrie



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Season 3, hints of zutara, set after The Southern Raiders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 17:32:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18481003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/padmerrie/pseuds/padmerrie
Summary: "Even in times of war, some things deserved to remain sacred."





	Excursions in Sightseeing

**Author's Note:**

> A simple one-shot set during season 3 after "The Southern Raiders". Sokka is grumpy, Zuko is surprisingly not, and friendships continue to blossom as the Gaang explores Ember Island. 
> 
> (I'm sorry Toph is not here! This was originally supposed to be longer - with her included - but this has been sitting in my drafts for over a year and I wanted to set it free!)

Overhead there was not a cloud in sight.  Zuko moved from rock to rock, seamless in his steps.  He’d tread this path many times before - though it had been many years.  Only Katara stood ahead of him, her long, dark hair tangled in the salty breeze and trailing after her as she glided across the rocks like the sea’s own waves.  He watched her, and smiled inwardly when she soared over a grimy stone he knew to be a loose step - a discovery he had made accidentally as a child. He remembered seeing Azula skirt past him just before the water swallowed him, the echo of her laughter ringing in his ears as he was dragged under.  He remembered the strong pair of arms that wrapped around him seconds later, ripping his small body from the sea’s deadly grip.

_Lu Ten._

That was the summer just before he set out for Ba Sing Se.  It was also the last time Zuko would ever see him. 

“What did you say we’re supposed to be looking for again?” Zuko called out to Katara.

“Ocean kumquats!” she chirped over her shoulder.  

“We should just go into the village and buy some!” came a strained voice.

A couple paces behind Zuko, Sokka was distressed.  He teetered on the edge of a small jagged rock, eyes darting over the open water before him, clearly stuck on where to step next.  Behind him, Suki stood waiting patiently for him to make his move.

“We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile, Sokka,” Katara argued, but as she said it Aang suddenly came whirling around from behind her on his trademark ball of air, the gust of his speedy appearance causing her to wobble on the rock she was standing on.  Zuko threw his arm up, quick to shield his face as the airbender zoomed past him, showering him with water in his wake. He shook wet hair out of his eyes and glowered after him as he made circles around Sokka and Suki.

“This is more fun, Sokka!” Aang shouted as though he was having the time of his life.  Sokka, on the other hand, could not have looked more miserable, cowering against Suki as Aang continued speeding around the pair, pelting them with bullets of water.  With a whoop of laughter, he made one last pass before shooting towards Zuko. 

Zuko’s eye widened as the Avatar charged at him, but just at the last second, Aang swerved right, whipping a sharp wave in his direction.  Zuko bent backwards, the sheet of seawater grazing his bare chest as it skated over him, and then just as quickly, he snapped upright again, feet still firmly grounded on the rock beneath him.  Without hesitation, he shot an arm out, and before Aang could realize what was happening, he snatched the back of the boy’s pants.

The ball of swirling air vanished.  At the hard stop in momentum, Aang’s arms and legs swung up into the air.  Higher, higher, higher, that he looked as though he might flip over entirely.  Gravity, however, pulled him down, and with his waistband clutched tightly in Zuko’s grasp, he rocked back and forth, arms and legs dangling limp above the water.  

Anyone else might have been embarrassed being in such a vulnerable position, but Aang being Aang only smiled sheepishly at the setback.  But as he braved a peek at Zuko, he was reminded once again that Zuko was the son of the Fire Lord. Golden eyes seared into him, an intensity that could skewer a man’s soul.  Aang braced himself, but when he spoke, his words were short.

“Low profile,” the fire prince rasped, and before Aang could say anything, Zuko opened his clenched fist and dropped him into the ocean.  

The boy let out a yelp of surprise and hit the water with a splash.  Frothy water bubbled at the spot where he disappeared, and a moment later, Aang’s head bobbed up above the surface.  Tipping his chin up, he puckered his lips and squirted an impressive fountain of seawater back into the ocean.

Sokka let out a disgruntled noise.  “This is ridiculous! Aang doesn’t have to come if you’re so worried about us being caught.  I’ll even volunteer to go! And Suki can come with me just to be safe.”

“Uh-uh,” Katara ojected immediately, frowning and shaking her head.  “Last time you two went off you were gone for hours.”

Sokka stared blankly at her.

“To gather wood,” she pressed.  

Still, no response.   

“ _For fire_.”  Katara threw an angry arm out gesturing Zuko.  “Did you not notice who recently joined the group?”

Zuko turned to face Sokka and waved a hand.  “Hi.”

Sokka crossed his arms defiantly, though only managed a sputter of defense.  “We were - were...  _sightseeing!_ ”

Katara’s hands came up to rest on her hips, eyeing her brother with a mixture of skepticism and tired exasperation - and rightfully so, Zuko thought.  If Sokka’s idea of _sightseeing_ was anything like his scenic picnics with Mai, then she had every reason to doubt him.  Though, he wasn’t about to call him out on it. Even in times of war, some things deserved to remain sacred.

Aang drifted over to Sokka and Suki, floating languidly on his back.  “We’re sightseeing right now, Sokka!”

Zuko almost laughed at the look on Sokka’s face.  Even Suki looked like she was fighting back giggles, and when he glanced out of the corner of his eye at Katara, he saw her mouth twitch.  She quickly turned away and leapt onto a rock, and without thinking, Zuko followed after her, leaving behind Sokka’s unintelligible blather only to hear it cut off a moment later by the tell-tale sound of a mighty crash of water.

Katara grinned over her shoulder at Zuko.  He didn't turn back.


End file.
